Thursday, August 26, 2010

“When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.”

Well, yes, and we all know what happened to his Egg-ness, don’t we?

One of the great pitfalls of reading the scripture resides right inside my own head: there’s a distance between what the Spirit speaks and what I hear. I trust the Bible. It’s the revelation of God’s heart and mind. But I don’t trust me. I’m capable of missing the point, of reading my own values into the text. I’m capable of using God’s wonderful words for my own devices instead of his purposes. That makes the Bible a dangerous place to visit, but I’m not giving up.

Monday’s post marveled at what kind of God would celebrate when smart people are clueless, and I’m still awestruck by this idea: God isn’t impressed with my wisdom or intelligence, but he is impressed with the condition of my heart. If I ever compete with the Almighty on Jeopardy, I’m toast. Yet he will bend low to comfort a contrite spirit. While meditating on these things, I came across the opening of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. In the first two chapters he talks about the wisdom of men and the wisdom of God. Here’s a sample:

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.

Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

The world through its wisdom did not know him . . .

God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise;

When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom

So much for the way the world thinks. Then Paul begins to reveal God’s wisdom:

We speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom hidden . . .

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"

What if our approach to following Jesus is fueled by the world’s idea of wisdom? I’ve met too many “smart” Christians. Perhaps you have too: the guys who can quote the Bible from start to finish and are happy to tell you what it means; the guys who bring the “been there, done that” attitude to the revelation of God’s word. I once knew a pastor who told a young man, “I’ve done the hard work of studying the scripture. I know what it means, so I don’t have to keep going back to learn it again and again.”

I’d like to suggest four checkpoints suggested by these first two chapters of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians:

If anyone could have brought worldly wisdom to bear on the scriptures, it would have been Paul. Even in his day Paul was recognized as a man of vast learning and intelligence, but until Jesus confronted him he was clueless. Instead, he spent three days in Damascus, blinded by the light of Christ, rethinking his life of study. Perhaps he spent three years (see Acts 9:9 and Galatians 1: 16-18).

What if Mars Hill is a cautionary tale: Most 21st century scholars hold this speech up as a great example of evangelism. Paul came to Corinth directly from Athens, where he gave his “great speech” on Mars Hill--but was it really great? Acts 17:34 tells us only a “few men” believed. You can read his own reflections regarding his time in Athens in 1 Corinthians 2: 1-5. It’s surprising! Perhaps when he visited the seat of philosophy he fell into the wisdom trap and tried to play the world’s game. He certainly changed his method when he got to Corinth.

True wisdom rests in Jesus Christ, and he is within our reach. Paul reveals that Jesus is the wisdom of God, and he defines the wisdom of God as “righteousness, holiness, and redemption.” (1: 30) What if wisdom is knowing what to love and whom to fear? What if we have accepted the world’s idea of wisdom and applied it to following Jesus? What if worldly philosophy is merely the Bill and Ted version of God’s true wisdom?

It’s possible to be a Christian, even a smart one, and still be radically unspiritual. How many of us marry the wisdom of this age to our expression of the faith? Many churches operate on the principles of business and marketing. Others operate in the realm of power politics--both right and left. Still others (far too many) apply the scriptures like a lawyer applies mercy. Shouldn't we take three days--or three years--to ask whether our ideas of Christianity come from Jesus or someone else?

Humpty Dumpty applied his dizzying intellect to the meaning of the word “glory.” We saw how it worked out for him. Is it possible we do the same?

7 comments:

You are man who can enthusiastically agree with the idea that "some things need to be caught rather than taught" -- and you have this line of reasoning on your blog?

As Clive Staples said, we need to take the scriptures in like tea infusing into water. ... You forget, maybe, that He also said "be wise as serpents." Have you forgotten Daniel, who was "skilled in the language and literature of the Babylonians?" Though Wisdom and Education are not to be conflated, they walk together.

Christians making a virtue out of cluelessness are destined to be toast. You may not be making a virtue out of cluelessness; not exactly. It's not clear. I just point out that the world is not flat anymore.

I have always regretted believing things just because pastor was enthusiastic about it. Always; whether it was "kissing dating goodbye", pretending the fossils are less than 10,000 years old, that Orthodox Christianity has always held that God will curse you for not tithing; what-not. I ask you to consider what tools you would give believers to think with if not sharp ones?

And those at Mars Hill needed to hear -- making a virtue out of success ( i.e. noting "only a few believed" ) doesn't tell me anything at all about the transaction there viz. whether it was done "right." Only if I assume that a megachurch in every Areopagus is the goal can I conclude that something was "wrong" with what Paul did.

great post Ray. my favorite point: "true wisdom rests in Jesus, and he is within reach." clearly intelligence and all its children - the arts, sciences, education, reason and so on - are not evil or bad. But they are not the grounds on which we find or know the Lord. Would it be safe to say - using Willard's phrase for emotion - that *intelligence* "is an excellent servant but terrible master?" would you go with that, or does that still give too much reliance on 'wisdom'?

i think this post goes well with Glen's recent post, and i agree with both. yet at the end of the day, the things of the heart must champion, and i wish i were better at it. knowledge [insert science, art, philosophy, education] puffs up, but love builds up.

Hi Charles: Thanks for your comments, and you make several good points. I'm certainly not against godly wisdom--I want believers to have "sharp tools" (excellent phrase). I also want us to pause and consider whether what *we* call wisdom is the same thing *He* calls wisdom. I'm pretty sure you'd agree there is plenty of worldliness masquerading as wisdom in the church. There's no virtue in cluelessness to be sure; there are just too many Christians certain they are wise when in fact all they have done is baptized the wisdom of this age. Excellent point regarding Mars Hill--I've imposed my imagination on the situation, along with Paul's comments. But you're right--numbers alone do not indicate whether something is wise.

Samuel: Thanks to you as well. What a great line from St. Dallas "intelligence is an excellent servant but terrible master." As you've suggested elsewhere--why not try foolishness? Better still, why not let God direct us toward either wisdom or foolishness.

Every church I have ever been a part of has struggled with that academic vs. spiritual tension. It's frustrating to me that as we focus on developing one side, the other seems to inherently weaken.

There are moments in my personal life, though, when my head and spirit seem to work as a single, balanced unit (like when I'm walking/thinking/praying). It gives me hope that we can find that sweet spot as a community, and makes me wonder what would need to change in order for us to find it. Maybe the structure of our worship? Or the setting? Or our expectations?

Hi Kristin: It does, indeed, sometimes seem as though academic and spiritual perspectives are mutually exclusive. What I'm trying to indicate is that we frequently drag our ideas concerning what is wise into an area where God has the upper hand! We think we know what wisdom is, but if that's the case why are things so screwed up?

We should love the Lord with all our heart, soul--and mind. It does not honor Him to throw our brains out the window. Neither does it honor him to presume that the standard way of doing things honor him. The "conventional wisdom" in politics or academics, or even family life means the same results we have always gotten.

One example: with respect to leadership Jesus observed that worldly wisdom means authority flows from command--from the top down. His view of authority was that the greatest was the servant of all (Matthew 20: 25-26, really the whole chapter) But who seriously tries that in the workplace?

great post Ray. my favorite point: "true wisdom rests in Jesus, and he is within reach." clearly intelligence and all its children - the arts, sciences, education, reason and so on - are not evil or bad. But they are not the grounds on which we find or know the Lord. Would it be safe to say - using Willard's phrase for emotion - that *intelligence* "is an excellent servant but terrible master?" would you go with that, or does that still give too much reliance on 'wisdom'?

i think this post goes well with Glen's recent post, and i agree with both. yet at the end of the day, the things of the heart must champion, and i wish i were better at it. knowledge [insert science, art, philosophy, education] puffs up, but love builds up.

You are man who can enthusiastically agree with the idea that "some things need to be caught rather than taught" -- and you have this line of reasoning on your blog?

As Clive Staples said, we need to take the scriptures in like tea infusing into water. ... You forget, maybe, that He also said "be wise as serpents." Have you forgotten Daniel, who was "skilled in the language and literature of the Babylonians?" Though Wisdom and Education are not to be conflated, they walk together.

Christians making a virtue out of cluelessness are destined to be toast. You may not be making a virtue out of cluelessness; not exactly. It's not clear. I just point out that the world is not flat anymore.

I have always regretted believing things just because pastor was enthusiastic about it. Always; whether it was "kissing dating goodbye", pretending the fossils are less than 10,000 years old, that Orthodox Christianity has always held that God will curse you for not tithing; what-not. I ask you to consider what tools you would give believers to think with if not sharp ones?

And those at Mars Hill needed to hear -- making a virtue out of success ( i.e. noting "only a few believed" ) doesn't tell me anything at all about the transaction there viz. whether it was done "right." Only if I assume that a megachurch in every Areopagus is the goal can I conclude that something was "wrong" with what Paul did.